Food

The green of lettuce, the yellow of fresh egg yolks, and the red of the soil after processing livestock. Life in the North has long been about self-sufficiency and today young families continue to choose a lifestyle where everything that ends up on the dinner table comes from just out the back door. Sarah Artis dabbles and joins a pair of families trading the 9 to 5 for something a bit more hands on.

Opening day on the Skeena came late this year. Kitsumkalum fish monitors were there working with recreational anglers to gather data. Britta Boudreau takes us to the river, and gives us a glimpse of what’s at stake if the salmon stop swimming, and who is working to protect the resource.

Salmon are a way of life in northern BC. This season’s closures of the sockeye and Chinook fisheries on the Skeena River are causing ripples of fear for a future with no fish in the rivers. Dan Mesec investigates the issues, and the potential cultural implications of declining stocks.

A slight breeze rustles the aspen leaves, and on it drifts the distinct scent of a northern summer. It could be a campfire or a Bar-B-Q, but when the days are long and when the salmon are running, the smell of smoke carries with it the flavour of curing fish and the promise of good eating throughout the winter.

In the 1940s and ’50s, federally funded experimental farms in Smithers and Prince George were part of a network across Canada established to trial new crops and develop the nation’s agricultural prowess.

When the robins are back and the pussy-willows are in their prime, northern gardeners emerge from hibernation and start pacing around the piles of snow and sodden earth, trying their best to be patient until spring really arrives so the planting can begin.

It’s unknown exactly how long the Lake Babine people have relied upon salmon. For countless generations, ocean-run sockeye made its way from the Pacific, up the Skeena River, to the Babine River and its spawning grounds at Babine Lake, sustaining the nation while also providing a resource to trade with other nations.

It’s not much bigger than your average home’s kitchen and dining room, but Prince Rupert’s Cow Bay Café has a powerful reputation that belies its modest square footage. For 16 years, eating a meal at this cosy gem of a restaurant (if you can get a reservation) has been as much an essential Rupert experience as having your brolly blown inside-out by a gale. It’s a favoured destination for special birthday tète-a-tètes, business lunches for suits from the Port, and dinners to show off its charming waterfront location to family and visitors from away